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Chapter Five
Patricia stared at the gentleman who had just interrupted their tour around the gardens curiously. She could feel the sudden tension in the Duke’s arm and noticed that his face had grown wary and tight.
The gentleman bowed slightly. He was of medium height, with nut brown hair and deep-set grey eyes. Rather handsome. There was an awkward silence, as the two men stared at each other before the gentleman turned towards her, his eyes crinkling as he smiled.
“My old friend here seems to have forgotten his manners,” he said archly, his eyes keen as he gazed upon her face. “May I introduce myself? Lord Archibald Cardigan, at your service.”
The Duke jumped again. “Yes. I have forgotten myself, it seems. You were just the last person I expected to see here, Cardigan.” He drew a deep breath. “This is Lady Patricia Hunter.”
Lord Cardigan turned back to her, watching her with interest. “I say, are you the daughter of the Viscount Chant?”
Patricia nodded slowly, smiling at him with delight. How lucky was this? Lord Archibald Cardigan was one of the others on her list for today. An eligible bachelor of considerable fortune.
She curtseyed. “My Lord. It is a pleasure, to be sure.”
Lord Cardigan kept gazing at her, quite openly. “I say, it might be a bit forward, but you are quite the loveliest lady I have seen here today, Lady Patricia. Simply divine.”
Patricia blushed. She hadn’t said many words to him, but his admiration for her was even more blatant than the Duke’s. Lord Cardigan might only be a baronet, as opposed to a duke, but what did that matter to her? He was wealthy enough, and he seemed pleasant. Although a small part of her was dismayed that she and the Duke had been interrupted, just when they were finally conversing easily.
It does not matter,she told herself sternly.You are simply casting your net wide at the moment, in order to discover the best catch.
“I am flattered, my Lord,” she said, smiling demurely. “But I am sure you say such things to all the ladies.”
He opened his mouth to reply, when the Duke cut in.
“What do you want, Cardigan?” he asked, in a curt voice. “And by the way, you should address me as Merriweather, not Fisher. I am the Duke now, or did you not realize?”
Lord Cardigan laughed easily. “Come now, let us not stand on such ceremony, old chap. We go back such a long way, do we not?”
There was another tense pause. The Duke’s face was full of thunder. Patricia gazed from one to the other, unable to make head nor tail of what was happening.
“Too long a way,” muttered the Duke, glaring at the other man. “Far too long.”
The gentleman laughed again. “My condolences on the loss of your father by the way. The old Duke was a good egg. He shall be sorely missed at the club.”
The Duke inclined his head but didn’t smile.
Lord Cardigan turned back to Patricia. “And how is your family, Lady Patricia? I trust they are all well?”
She smiled. “Very well, I thank you, my Lord.”
He hesitated for a fraction of a moment. “Well, it is rather cool out here,” he said slowly. “I only came out to extend my condolences to my old friend.” His eyes flickered towards the Duke for a second, before turning back to her. “Perhaps I might call upon you, my Lady? Would Thursday be convenient?”
Patricia smiled slowly, her heart hammering. “I would find that most agreeable, my Lord.” She reached into the embroidered bag hanging around her left wrist, taking out one of her calling cards and handing it to him. “I look forward to it with pleasure.”
He glanced at the card, nodding, before placing it in his jacket pocket. Then he took her hand again, bowing low over it. His eyes lingered upon her as he rose.
“Until then, Lady Patricia. I look forward to it with pleasure myself.” He gazed back at the Duke. “I guess I shall see you around the traps now you are back in town on official business…Fisher.”
The Duke glowered, nodding curtly.
Lord Cardigan walked briskly away, back into the orphanage. Patricia could still feel the tension strumming through the Duke, as taut as an arrow in a bow. She suddenly and quite strangely felt suffused with guilt. Had she been intolerably rude, handing her card so eagerly to the gentleman, while she was taking a turn around these gardens with another? Especially one who intrigued her, in an inexplicable way?
She took a deep breath, raising her chin. She had done nothing wrong. She didn’t know the Duke of Merriweather at all and there was no understanding between them. She truly had no choice. She must seize every opportunity to make a good match when it was presented to her.
Lord Archibald Cardigan was handsome, charming, and wealthy. She would be a fool not to encourage him. And the Duke of Merriweather had not asked to call upon her. Not yet, at any rate.
She turned back to him, taking a deep breath. “You are long acquainted with Lord Cardigan then, your Grace?”
